It is common practice to protect printed circuit boards from damage caused due to overload current by installing or mounting a fuse assembly on the board. For safety reasons, the fuse assembly is usually installed in a fuse holder and the fuse holder is mounted on, or snapped onto the board.
In a copending application of the present inventor filed concurrently herewith and entitled "Fuse Holder With Standoffs", there is described a fuse holder with standoffs and contact pins or leads for mounting on a PCB. The fuse holder described therein, and fuse holders in general, are mounted vertically on the PCB with the fuse holder leads or pins extending downwardly from the bottom of the fuse holder into corresponding apertures on the surface of the PCB, whereon they are soldered in position, and the surface mounted PCB is then inserted in the electronic device or equipment. It can be appreciated, however, that in small or miniaturized electronic devices, space restrictions are of paramount consideration. Accordingly, a vertically mounted fuse holder - PCB assembly can not be accommodated or fit into such miniaturized electronic devices.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a fuse holder designed to overcome the space limitations associated with vertically mounted fuse holder - PCB assemblies.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a fuse holder which is uniquely designed to be laid flat, i.e., flat mounted on the edge surface of the PCB thus minimizing the space required to accommodate the fuse holder - PCB assembly in miniaturized electronic devices.
It is also an object of this invention to provide such flat mounted fuse holder - PCB assemblies in which the fuse holder is rigidly secured onto the PCB by virtue of the unique design and construction of the fuse holder.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a fuse holder having contact pins which are coterminous in order to facilitate insertion of the pins into corresponding apertures on the PCB surface.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the fuse holder of this invention will be more clearly appreciated from its ensuing detailed description and the accompanying drawings.